The sacrifices of America’s wounded warriors are honored each year with a patriotic spectacle hosted by the lobstermen of Howes Neck, a historic 400-year-old fishing community on Boston Harbor.
A tight-knit neighborhood of blue-collar boaters hosted its 65th annual Disabled Veterans Fishing Outing on Wednesday.
It is a tradition that started with the grandparents and great-grandparents of today’s boat captains.
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“The House is a community of good patriots,” Kevin Gomez, president of Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club, told Fox News Digital.
“We’re just working class people. Lobstermen, plumbers, bricklayers, electricians. Our veterans have been cared for for generations,” he said.
One of more than a dozen boats piloted by America’s Heroes on a fishing trip in Boston Harbor during the Saltwater Fishing Club’s 65th Annual Disabled Veterans Fishing Trip in Harvey on July 19, 2023. (Wendy Barry Hogan)
About 200 disabled American veterans are admitted to Peninsula Community in Quincy, Massachusetts each year from veterans hospitals across the state.
Dozens of volunteers help veterans roll wheelchairs down ramps and onto fishing boats.
The boats headed for Boston Harbor with a police boat and fireboat escort.
“The House is a party of good patriots.” – Kevin Gomez, Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club
Windy Berry Hogan, a Houghs Neck native and mother of four, has been participating in veteran fishing trips since she was a child in the 1970s.
Volunteers help load people onto boats during the 65th Annual Disabled Veterans Fishing Trip in the fishing community of Houghs Neck on July 19, 2023 in Quincy, Massachusetts. (Wendy Barry Hogan)
She was introduced to the event by her fisherman father, Jay Barry, who died when she was just 11 years old.
He crewed a fishing boat Wednesday, helping veterans deliver bait hooks and drinks.
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“The next generation is involved in this tradition. I bet my dad is smiling about that,” Hogan said.
“I’m sure the love of that day has been passed down in our families and that’s why it’s been 65 successful years.”
Houghs Neck natives Randi Goura Bertoni, Rhonda Goura and Windy Berry Hogan are shown on July 19, 2023 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He volunteers each year at Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club’s annual disabled veterans fishing trip, now in its 65th year. Each woman is the daughter of a late Houghs Neck fisherman. They continue the family tradition of fishing with veterans every summer. (Wendy Barry Hogan)
Event organizer Gomez said at least one veteran joined the festivities for the first time this year.
Kevin Mulvey of New York was Army best friends with Gomez’s uncle, Raymond West, who was killed in action in Vietnam on December 13, 1968.
“I’m sure the love of that day has been passed down in our families and that’s why it’s been 65 successful years.” – Windberry Hogan
“It’s Houseneck, giving back to those who give the most,” neighborhood resident Scott Campbell told Fox News Digital.
A U.S. Navy veteran enjoys a day on Boston Harbor during the 65th annual Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club Disabled Veterans Fishing Trip on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Wendy Barry Hogan)
“Our fishing community, our veterans, our American way of life — it’s always been that way in Houghs Neck.”
Hard-working lobstermen donate their time, gas, money, sweat and labor every year, despite daunting challenges like excessive government regulation that makes it nearly impossible for individual fishermen to survive out of the ocean.
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Harvey’s Salt Water Fishing Club raises thousands of dollars each year to help fund the event by selling paper flounder placards at local pubs.
For a $5 or $10 donation, supporters write the name of a friend, family member or other loved one and place the tribute on the bar room wall.
Harvey’s Salt Water Fishing Club supports an annual disabled veterans fishing trip every summer by selling fundraising flounder at pubs and bars around Quincy, Massachusetts. (Kevin Gomez/Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club)
Pub walls around town are lined with fundraising flounder every summer.
It’s a hat tip to local traditions.
Houghs Neck was once known as the flounder fishing capital of the world, attracting anglers from all over North America each summer to feast on its delicious flaky white meat flatfish.
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The city of Quincy, near Boston, is known as the birthplace of the great patriots John Adams and John Hancock, the two men who sparked the American Revolution.
Teams of volunteers guide veterans in wheelchairs up the ramp to the Houghs Neck fishing docks during the 65th Annual Disabled Veterans Fishing Outing on July 19, 2023 in Quincy, Massachusetts. (Mike Chaney/Harvey’s Saltwater Fishing Club)
Adams left America under cover of darkness in 1778 to seek French aid in the American Revolution.
He departed from the same spot where disabled veterans set out to fish in Boston Harbor every summer.
The spirit of patriotism spread in the city today by the founding fathers of the hometown.
Nearly 200 wounded warriors are invited to fish Boston Harbor during the 65th annual Disabled Veterans Fishing Trip on July 19, 2023 in Quincy, Massachusetts. (Photos by Wendy Barry Hogan)
“There’s something special about this community that’s related to the Addams Family movement,” Quincy Mayor Tom Koch told Fox New Digital.
“Despite being an international figure, he [John Adams] Stay strong here in your hometown.”
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“He referred to it in letters as ‘that remarkable place’ even as he traveled through Europe,” Koch added.
Source by [Fox News]
